For the first day (of our first overseas trip together), my cousin and I, along with my parents, went to Heiwado to buy groceries and pass time while we wait for our uncle to arrive from London. Heiwado is a good 10-minute drive from home, my favorite mall when I was a kid. Back then, a place was considered heaven when it sells toys and chocolates, has an arcade and McDonald’s. Well at least, to the 12-year-old me, it was.

We roamed around, ate lunch at McDonald’s and bought snacks.

Japan’s Mister Donut is way on a different scale than Mister Donut in the Philippines!

Japan is a treasure chest for souvenirs. The choices are endless. Just look at the colorful packaging of those sweets (and those are just ‘ordinary’ sweets you can get from the grocery!).

Kinokonoyama (the green box) and Apollo (the red box) are my all-time favorite Japanese snacks/chocolates. I love how they have these DIY snacks, where you can customize your chocolates in any way. Kids, or even adults, will definitely enjoy them And you can easily find these and more in grocery stores.

After that, we went to Namco Land. I am an only child and was a little lonely playing with the grown ups (well except for the times I went with my childhood, but very Japanese, friends) when I was younger. I always longed for company, someone close to my age to play with. So, when my cousin was born, I knew we had to go here together one day. And here we were, finally!

There really isn’t that much in Namco Land, just the usual games you find in an arcade and the UFO catchers.

Yet, a small bucket of tokens can still bring you joy, laughter and bonding time with your loved ones, if you know where to play.

After finishing a bucket or two of tokens, the whole family went to Staminataro, an Eat-All-You-Can restaurant we always go to, for dinner. I don’t eat much and I don’t usually get to eat my money’s worth in a buffet, but I enjoy going around all that food and picking dishes for myself (even though I don’t finish them most of the time).

Oh you know, just me pretending to grill meat for everyone.

You can’t go to an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant, without taking your fill of delicious, mouth-watering meat and partnering it with Japanese rice!

There were all sorts of desserts to choose from – ice cream, cakes, puddings, etc. But I settled for cotton candy, which I made (yes, they do have a cotton candy machine!).